Category: Windows 7

I accidentally installed a program (SQL Server) to my second hard drive that I also use to backup my c:\ drive as a system image called, "windowsimagebackup".

I removed the SQL Server software, reformatted the second hard drive, and when I clicked on Create a System Image, it recognized my second hard drive…… until I rebooted. I was back to square one.

What I came to learn was that during a reboot, if your system finds any lingering entries in the registry that are services that point to the second hard drive, it will again flag the drive as a system disk before the login screen appears.

Here is what I did to fix the problem.

1) Remove any programs and services that are using the second hard drive.
2) Run the registry editor in CCleaner and get rid of any pointers to the second hard drive.

Run Computer Management by type Computer Management in the search bar.
1) Under Storage, click Disk Management.
2) Right click the second hard drive and click Delete Volume.
3) Right click on the second drive and make sure it is MBR.
4) Right click and click New Simple Volume (creates a partition).

Reboot.

The system should not flag your second hard drive as a system disk, and it should now be recognized as a drive for creating system images.

I had no idea (in Windows 7) that you can do more than disconnect or lock a computer that you have remoted into. There were many times that I wanted to either Log off or Restart the computer and could not. I thought it was a limitation of Remote Desktop.

After uninstalling Microsoft Essentials, Windows Defender automatically takes over quietly in the background. If you want to install another antivirus protection program, you must turn off Windows Defender.

Here is how.

In the search box, type, Windows Defender.

Click Windows Defender. After it is launched, click Tools and then click options.

Click Administrator and uncheck the box that states, “Use this program”, and then click Save.

To verify that Windows Defender is now turned off, repeat step 1 and launch Windows Defender. You should not get this message:

I at one time installed Visual Studio 2015 Community Edition. I then uninstalled it, but the uninstall went badly somehow.

Weeks or months later, I saw the software lingering in the Programs and Features area where you can modify or uninstall programs.

So, I tried to uninstall it again and could not because the package was missing from the Package Cache folder.

Now, I don’t claim to understand how all this works and why it just hung when I tried to both uninstall and repair it. All I know is that sometimes I would get a dialog box during the uninstall prompting me to browse for the package that apparently was missing.

I did a lot of research and tried a lot of different things. Nothing worked for me. Without that package, I felt doomed…. until I came across this article.

One possible cause of USB Mass Storage Device problems: Windows can get “confused” by all the old (and sometimes conflicting) USB storage driver data that tends to collect and remain installed on a PC

Here’s why: By default, Device Manager only displays drivers of connected devices so the drivers you see in Device Manager aren’t the only USB storage drivers that are really there! You probably still have drivers installed for devices you once connected then disconnected long ago!

Windows installs drivers for a USB Mass Storage device when you first plug it in to a port

Windows sometimes installs the same driver for the same deviceeach time you connect it to a different port!

Problem is
==> These drivers aren’t uninstalled when you simply unplug the device but only when you uninstall the device (or each device instance per port)
==> Driver data associates devices with drive letters and ports. Port and drive letter conflicts may occur as you start unplugging/replugging devices

You may be surprised at just how many old USB drivers are actually still installed on your machine!

Download drivecleanup.zip, unzip and save to your desktop. Move the 32 or 64 bit version of DriveCleanup.exe to C:\Windows\System32

Open an elevated command prompt window:

NOTE! It must be an elevated command prompt window or the tool won’t work. (If you need instruction, click on the embedded hyperlink in the bullet below.) p.s. Thanks to andrew129260 in helping to highlight this important point!

In the command prompt enter: drivecleanup.exe
==> Your output should be similar to my example below.
==> If, instead, you get an error message like Command not recognized it means you didn’t move Drivecleanup.exe to the right directory

In start search type Advanced and select View Advanced System Settings
Select the System Protection tab
select the drive that as too much space wasted and select configure.
Adjust the max usage, this should take care of both system restore and shadow copies for you.

This will reduce the number of files or restore states you can have, so it is a balance of space vs longer term protection.

Sometimes applications save files and folders in a way that can’t be deleted via Windows Explorer. The solution is to determine 8.3 format (Short file name) via a command prompt and delete the file within the command prompt dialog as follows:

1) Open a Command Prompt.
2) Browse to the parent folder of the file or folder you want to delete.
3) Type ‘dir /x’ to obtain the 8.3 formatted filename.
4) Delete the file using the 8.3 filename, e.g. ‘del somefilename~1.txt’